Writing Compared with Other Pursuits

The bottom line: All art is hard. Whether it's drawing/painting/digital animation, music, filmmaking or writing (yes, at the risk of sounding pretentious for all our sake, I consider writing an art form.)

In today's world, there are countless things vying for our attention. Many people would rather be passive (looking, watching, listening) instead of active (searching, reading, imagining) when it comes to consuming content. As writers, we all want people to read our work. Unfortunately we need the audience to take an active role to do so. It's always a challenge.

 

I've noticed differences in the nature of modern day self-supported stuff. I've been watching stuff on youtube these days, and it's so much easier to provide content on a non-professional basis (ie you have no marketing team or corporation to promote you) on things other than writing. There's guys who make stuff in their workshops, or have animating streams where they show what they do. That kind of thing is impossible for a writer, because there's nothing inherently interesting about seeing person writing on a computer. It doesn't take special techniques or equipment. The process happens all in a person's head. This is a real disadvantage, because a person can side-step an animation company and still get noticed as an animator, but the writer has to either be really good at self-promotion or fight against a wave of manuscripts all being hurled at the major publishing companies -- most of which require one to be agented, which means another layer of approval requirement in the process.

 

I read an article a few years back about this writing competition was held live and the contestants would be writing on the spot where large screens showed their work as they were writing. If I'm remembering right, just two writers were writing at a time and the winner (by popularity) would make it onto the next night. Some guy was on a winning streak. The ultimate winner was given a book deal and I believe some money. I want to say it was somewhere in South America. Maybe someone else here has heard of this. I thought it sounded pretty cool.

The other thing is writers can read their stuff on youtube if they want and plenty do. There are also videos where writers discuss different elements of the craft and publishing. Of course, no one wants to watch someone just typing, but if you were watching a video on painting, you wouldn't want to watch the dry time either. I'm convinced there's an interesting way to showcase just about anything. Especially writers know how to get creative.

 

Writing like drawing is abstract, but in different thought
processes.
Music is abstract and uses math, tempo, and time
signature.

 

I've studied comics and illustration, learned to play the guitar pretty well, I write and now I'm soon to be finished with my directing studies. Since I have no intentions of working in the illustration arts or becoming a guitarist, I'll just speak about the other two instead. I intend to publish a novel and produce a film.

Truth to be told, I can't see myself as a director, but I can see myself directing nonetheless and the same goes for writing too, whatever that may mean. I really believe that finishing writing a book might be easier than finishing producing a feature film, due to the difference in logistics. In regards to promoting, both seem equally challenging for different reasons. Each artistic medium has different challenges in the making as well as in the promoting part. The outcome is that the artist always ends up frustrated. Well, of course... artists, duh! It's not just about making a name for one's self, or just about the money. It's also about the artist's obsession about the quality and style of their work since it's their representation through it that the audience perceives and that's what I believe slows them down. (Oh, yeah, I almost forgot. Also having a day job to earn a living). Too much thinking and revising. Suddenly your WIP becomes larger than life. Your brain crashes and you have an out of body experience. You see your work and it confuses you. You think, "Is that who I am? What does it all mean?" And then you lose momentum... At least that's been my experience with writing. Plus the difficulty of sticking to one story at the time. Plus my time management. Plus... whatever. I'm far from being an honorary prototype of a writer, I admit. Directing on the other hand doesn't give you much space to revise (meaning you can edit forever, but reshooting scenes... Who can afford admit that? Ridiculous!), which may drive you crazy or liberate you. And then comes the therapeutic qualities of knowing how to play guitar. Have you been struggling to keep a happy-go-lucky personality for too long, smiling in the face of adversity and failure? Have you been bottling up emotions? Has anyone ever told you to get a "real" job? You can swear in all sorts of creative, non-verbal ways through your guitar. Or weep. Yep. This is my artistic system and it works just fine, don't judge me.

We've got a saying around here: Learn an art and leave it and once you starve catch it again. It's an old saying though. Not sure about how it fits into the current times anymore.

 

There are two aspects to your question, really. One is the creation aspect. The other is the selling/distribution aspect.

I have been an artist since I was very young. I won a scholarship to an art school when I was in my senior year of High School (I didn't take it up, because by that time I was convinced I wanted to be an English major.) I have continued to do artwork just for fun.

I find drawing and painting are an ENTIRELY different exercise from writing. These activities use entirely different parts of the brain. I can listen to music, sing along, even carry on conversations with people while I'm sketching, drawing or painting. My hand and eye work together, while my thinking/talking brain can do something else at the same time. I find artwork and craft work theraputic. There is a zone I get into that leaves me feeling calm and centred when I come out of it.

Writing is entirely different. Again, there is a zone. But I need absolute peace and NO interruptions whatsoever if I'm going to write. My brain is thinking/talking about what I'm writing, I'm needing to envision scenes, hear character voices, etc, and I need to be alone and undisturbed. If I get pestered with phone calls or people coming in to the room to yak at me, I can lose my concentration totally, and end up getting really angry. After a good writing day I feel quite pleased with myself, but it's not the same kind of theraputic feeling as the artwork gives me. It's just different. More akin to relief at getting something done, rather than calm!

I also play(ed) guitar and lap dulcimer and used to sing traditional music a lot. That was a different thing again. Probably the most frustrating of the three pursuits for me. I could easily learn the words to a song and could sing them well enough to hold up my end in singarounds, etc. But I was never any damn good with the instrument. I reached a certain level of competence, then plateaued. I love music, so I knew I was barely competent at it, and that bothered me. I did not derive the same level of pleasure from producing music as I did drawing, painting and writing. There was always a low grrrrrr, damn damn damn going on in the back of my brain.

As far as 'getting noticed' or attempting to sell any of my creative work? Nope. I can't say I ever took a serious stab at it—although I have sold paintings and drawings in the past. I am hoping to get my novel formatted for self-publication, but I think I won't spend a lot of time trying to sell it. I just enjoy doing this stuff. I'm not all that concerned about selling it to others.

 

I can name a ton of musicians, directors, and authors (and their works)

Artists? Monet, Picasso, Van Gogh, Dali, Rembrandt, and Da Vinci. That's it. And the only actual painting I can name is the Mona Lisa...

 

Take it you're not much of a drawer-er.

 

Maybe we're making this too complicated. What has certainly changed over the past 50 years or so is the availability of various forms of art, and the way it's a lot easier to dabble in these arts as well as become proficient in them. The more art there is, the less likely yours is going to get noticed.

Suddenly anybody with a camera that takes moving pictures can make films. (And digital cameras are a hell of a lot less expensive to buy and use than the old ones that used film—and a LOT easier to edit.) Folks now create visual art digitally as well as using older mediums, and artists can distribute both kinds of art online—for sale and/or display. Music? Well, I think it's a lot easier for amateurs to create good music now than it ever has been before, but it also seems to be harder to make money at it. Live gigs still exist (before Covid) but people get a fair amount of music for free on YouTube. Animation is now possible via programmes like Blender—which my husband is presently using to create a few small animated films. Something he would never have been able to do without his iMac and these kinds of programmes. The sheer number of new writers has exploded, aided by wordprocessors for creation, and the ability to self-publish the results.

In short, everybody is an artist these days! So naturally there is going to be a lot more of it out there, vying for attention. Even if people DO read as much as they used to in the past, there is still going to be a problem because so much reading material is now being produced that nobody can get to it all. I think that's the reality we all are working with, whether we want to or not.

It's kinda like Where's Wally/Waldo. He's there in the picture (somewhere) but it's devilish hard to spot him because there are so many others, some actually wearing his colours as well. He's hidden in plain sight. As are we, who want to sell our work or get others to notice us. Sign of the times, I reckon?

In short: it's quantity, not quality, that is giving us problems.

 

The problem is time. Many compete for people's time and attention. You need to stand out and you need to deliver within the reader's short time allowance. The future is towards interesting and shorter writings. Notice that today's movies do not slowly flesh out the characters like they used to; they just come out with the big bang and action-action-action and done. They are superficial compared to the classics and yet many people today like them.

There are also people who refuse to go with the flow and pursue their work with utmost perfection. Only Time will tell whether they will have a place among the Giants.

 

Doesn't that make agents a good thing?

 

Art doesn't exist in a vacuum. You don't necessarily need to flesh out all the things that were fleshed out in past films. Audiences can apply their knowledge from previous movies (and I suppose this applies to anything story wise) to make educated conclusions about new movies with similar themes. It saves time and gives creators more room to pursue less explored avenues.

 

Maybe in theory, but in practice? In practice, agents are also getting swamped by quantity, according to their own websites, etc. Many of them have stopped taking submissions at all, because they need to service the clients they've already got.

Maybe this all has to level out. Many writers will get tired of peddling their books, or even quite trying to write them at all. They'll stop seeing writing as an income stream. Wannabe writers may wake up to the idea that they aren't likely to get rich—or even make a living—writing books. If they are dedicated, they'll keep writing anyway. If not, they'll move to something else. I hope the writers who do carry on will be more inclined to write what they actually want to write (and read), rather than chasing the latest fashion and becoming obsessed with what they think will 'sell.'

This pandemic has certainly had an effect on many different art forms as well. (Writers probably least, which is good news for us.) But young musicians are now realising that getting a degree from a well-regarded school of music or art is NOT a guarantee they'll be able to make a living at it. (I know this for a fact, because I know quite a few highly-respected musicians, here in Scotland, who have had their rose-coloured glasses shattered, and who not only are getting no work now, but are unlikely to get much in the future either.)

Musicians will hopefully continue to make music, but they won't be able to rely on a degree in the arts to give them much of a boost in terms of selling themselves. Even established musicians are now struggling to sell their work, because the medium for recording and distributing the work has totally changed. Recording is now easier. Making good quality CDs can be done at home—self-pubbed, if you will. But getting them to sell? Another story entirely.

Nobody has figured out how to make streaming pay for the artists themselves. It's a common theme, when you talk to musicians. The internet is choked with musicians at all levels of competency and every genre, mixing in and sometimes drowning out the better stuff. How do you even get noticed these days, enough to make a good living at what you do? It's never been easy to 'break through,' but now you break through and still don't make much money.

The digital age, with its easy access to production of art, has become a victim of its own success. Now everybody is an artist, if they want to be. I think that will take time to level out.

 

I don't think the pandemic has had any effect really. I think it's more a matter of people getting online and being told that anyone can be a writer. It doesn't matter if you have any skill. It doesn't matter if you make any effort. If you can sit down and vomit out some words, it will be a bestseller!

I really think we're doing a disservice to amateur writers by telling them that anyone can do it. You have a shot if you're willing to put in the time and the effort and the years and years of hard work, then maybe... MAYBE... you might get somewhere. Far too many amateur writers have a massive misunderstanding of the actual industry. Most places, if you try to interject some reality into the conversation, you get yelled at and down voted and attacked.

It's no wonder the agents are overwhelmed. Most of the people submitting have no business doing so. They're just not ready. They probably never will be.

 

I think most people have the potential to write something good though. Anyone can write if they put in the effort, whether or not they can successfully get published.

 

I don't know, do they? I'm sure if they were willing to work hard, they could, but how many people just make excuses and want writing to happen by magic? I can think of lots of examples. There's one guy on another writing forum who spends all of his time trying to write by committee, who spends a lot of time trying to get others to come up with his ideas, and when he doesn't like those ideas, he just argues and creates multiple threads all the time so he doesn't actually have to go write. This guy is hopeless, absolutely hopeless and telling him otherwise isn't going to change that. He's one of those many people who want to have written, he just doesn't want to actually write.

 

Yes, I think they do. Of course the potential is not often realized, which is where your example comes in, but it is there, I believe. And anyway, even if some people don't have that potential, which I am prepared to admit might be the case, it is impossible to know who these people are, and therefore arrogant to assume that certain people are hopeless. Robert Fripp of King Crimson was tone deaf when he started taking guitar lessons; now look at him. Plenty of great artists might have appeared to be hopeless at first, but steady application and perseverance can accomplish a lot.

 

Writing to me is a tool and in the hands of a skilled writer can be entertaining and educational. I've never thought of comparing it to other hobbies etc. I think by the medium of writing its something that comes about because ultimately the writer has something to say. Unlike Painters where not every painting means something so the idea of being good is completely subjective.

Also in art, things that are unfinished do have a certain charm in the art world, I don't think you could get away with an unfinished book. So I think writing is something that stands on its own if that makes sense.

As for being good enough etc, that isn't a important issue to me really, art is ultimately expression which is a unique experience and doesn't need to be put under a microscope. People are creatures of habit and they learn and improve with repetition. Not everyone can be an astronaut but you sure as hell learn a lot and have an adventure along the way trying to be one.

 

That's the main difference between now and a century ago. Back then, short stories were published regularly in magazines. There were editors on those magazines who read huge numbers of short stories, and culled out the best to put in their magazines. That's how writers and readers found each other. And most of these magazines got their submissions not from the writers themselves, but from the writers' agents, who also read huge numbers of short stories and placed the best ones where they were most likely to be published, in effect doing a bit of pre-culling.

Of course, noted writers went to the top of the stack, but there were plenty of opportunities for new writers to crack the market. So when you, the reader, bought the magazine, you were supporting the editors and agents.who did the culling work for you.

That doesn't happen now. The only magazine that I subscribe to now that actually publishes short stories is the New Yorker.

Just about all the great science-fiction/fantasy writers of the last century ... Ray Bradbury, Kurt Vonnegut, Robert Heinlein ... got their start, and made a living, from selling to those magazines.

Artists of all kinds are feeling that sort of pinch. Aspiring musicians don't have the record companies seeking out new talent, so they have to rely on YouTube videos and performing in small venues to get the word out, whereas the record companies of yore would send agents around to the coffee-houses and jazz clubs and whatever to see what artists had commercial potential.

And a famous artist I know fed his family by doing graphics for an aerospace firm while building up a reputation by getting galleries to show his artwork and gradually building up a base of dealers who were interested in his work and people who wanted their portraits painted ... he said that that was where the reliable money was made.

 

I read and/or subscribe to many publications that feature short stories. And I'm a short story writer who has made it into some of these publications. Also, a lot of these magazines and journals have been around for decades. It's also still how I discover writers that are new to me. A good story makes me want to see what else they have done.

A lot of people on this forum seem to think the short story is dead. Nope, alive and well. Sure, maybe the market has changed somewhat, and plenty of places have closed. But there are new places that come along with strong financial backing and are instantly in bookstores and paying their writers quite well. A newer magazine called LitMag comes to mind, but there are others.

Sure, it's my dream to get into The New Yorker. But they are far from the only place publishing great short fiction. And The New Yorker has one, maybe two, short stories an issue. They are still a more general-interest publication than something like The Paris Review. You don't need an agent to submit to these places. I don't think agents are interested in a writer who doesn't have a book to sell. Maybe that could be a short story collection, but I think that's still a hard sell. And if your agent is submitting your short stories, it means they are going to take a cut. I don't have an agent. I've thought about trying to get one. And I don't know if it would make things any easier. I think it would get you out of certain slush piles, but that's something I've done on my own. And it's something any good writer can also do. I think you need to have some good short story writing credits before an agent takes you on, and, still, they are going to want something bigger to sell than a short story even if it's to The New Yorker.

 

Short stories as a format still exist, but a paying short-story market, where writers can make a living selling only short stories to magazines, that's dead. Many classic books were first serialized in magazines before they were completed and compiled into a published book. It allowed the writer to keep eating while they were writing. That's not something that you get today.

There's also a lot of people who decry the gatekeepers, ignoring the fact that they have always existed. The people who are screaming "I don't need anyone telling me what I can write!", those are the same people who are writing things that are typically neither good nor commercially viable. There are a lot of people writing short stories and submitting, then complaining they always get rejected because they don't understand what the magazines are looking for. They treat it as a personal slight, not a recognition of reality. Either they're just not good enough or their stories are not a good match for the magazine they are submitting to.

It's an unfortunate reality that most writers don't have a good grasp on the literary market. They don't know what anyone wants and they often just don't care. That's why they don't get anywhere. It's really not that hard to understand.

 

Some places still pay a good amount for short stories. But tons of rejections come between those sales. It doesn't mean the story or writing is bad, but it does mean you have to try harder. I agree, @Cephus, that many aspiring writers don't have a grasp on what's being published where and by whom. Not knowing the market will not get you very far. But if this is what you want to do and you take it seriously, great things can happen. Still, rejection is a given and part of the process. I see nothing wrong with venting about this to other writers. It's hard to get rejected 100 times a year, but the good sales you make along the way are worth it. I think the people who say short stories are a thing of the past and pay very little just don't understand today's market. A lot of those same magazines from days ago are still up and running and buying short stories. I'm speaking from my own experience both as a reader and a writer.

 

Possibly so, though your comparison isn’t entirely pineapples vs pineapples as you’re referring to different levels of engagement — a ‘view’ on Youtube compared with someone sitting down to read your story. Views, likes etc. in digital media don’t necessarily equate to the attainment of the kind of audience that will support a creative career. It would be exaggeration to say I’d favour the writer with a single genuine, solid book review over the musician with 10,000 Youtube hits, but our age is one in which the quality, rather than quantity, of relationships between content producers and consumers is increasingly the dominant concern.

 

That being said, I do seek out and buy CDs and even attend gigs (back in the days....) from musicians I've first encountered on YouTube. In fact, I've bought 12 new CDs over the past four months, from artists I'd never heard of prior to the Covid lockdown. (I've bought 8 of these directly from the artists themselves, and the other four on Amazon.) But I'm old-fashioned. I've also been buying books. New books, by living authors, as well as classics. Including one book I bought just three days ago from a brand-new print-book publishing company, based in Edinburgh. (The company called Taproot.) I certainly make my financial contribution to keeping the arts alive. But am I a dying breed? Dunno.